Displaying items by tag: Mexico

Mexico: Panel Rey has inaugurated its gypsum wallboard plant in Ciudad Juárez. The company spent over US$55m on the plant that it says it the largest in Latin America. It is its fifth wallboard plant in the country following plants at El Carmen NL, San Luis Potosi, Mexico City and Mexicali. Construction at the site started in 2010 and first production started in early April 2018. Nicolás Alverde Villareal, the general director of Panel Rey, and Javier Corral Jurado, the governor of the state of Chihuahua, attended the event. The new plant is expected to created 170 direct jobs.

US: United States Geoogical Survey (USGS) data reports production of gypsum-based board products rose by 2.4% year-on-year to 2.35Mm2 in 2017 from 2.29Mm2 in 2016. Mined gypsum production increased by 7% year-on-year to 18.2Mt in 2017 from 16.7Mt in 2016. Synthetic gypsum supply rose by 4% to 16.7Mt from 16Mt. Imports of crude gypsum rose by 12.7% to 4.89Mt from 4.34Mt. The major importing countries remained Mexico, Canada and Spain. Exports of gypsum board products fell by 30% to 0.71Mt from 1.01Mt. The mjaority of these products were exported to Canada.

Oman: Oman exported 6.76Mt of gypsum from January to November 2017. This compared to 4.86Mt from Thailand, according to Ramachandran, Director of USG Boral Zawawi Gypsum, an Oman-based producer and exporter of gypsum. This potentially marks a change to the gypsum export market in 2016 when Thailand exported 6.29Mt and Oman exported 5.6Mt. Other leading exporters in 2016 included Spain, Iran and Mexico.

Mexico: Gabriel Pérez Kohler has been appointed as the general manager of Knauf Mexico. Kohler is a graduate of the University of Texas and was previously the general manager at Strategic Media. He holds 18 years of experience in the construction industry in Mexico, including a number of jobs and projects for business growth in the country of Black & Decker, Sherwin Williams and USG amongst other companies.

Colombia/Mexico: Mexican gypsum wallboard producers including USG Mexico and Abasteco Maxima (Abamax) will have to pay anti-dumping duties on imports to Colombia following an investigation by the Committee on Trade Practices. USG Mexico will be required to pay a 25% tariff, Abamax will have to a pay a 7.15% tariff and all other importers will face a 42.86% tariff, according to the Sentido Común website. The government will implement the tariffs over the next two years and will then reassess the situation.

US: USG has won two manufacturing awards from Frost & Sullivan's Manufacturing Leadership Council. The building materials manufacturer earned an award in the 'Improving Operational Excellence' category for its Lean Six Sigma (LSS) programme achievements and its Mexican subsidiary, USG Mexico, earned an award in the category of 'Supply Chain Leadership' for the optimisation of its import logistics and distribution programs. The Manufacturing Leadership Awards recognise manufacturing organisations and individual leaders shaping the future of global manufacturing.

"USG is committed to manufacturing excellence and it is an honour to receive these prestigious Manufacturing Leadership Awards," said Dom Dannessa, USG's Executive Vice President and Chief Operations and Innovation Officer. "Investments in Lean Six Sigma and our Supply Chain have allowed us to better anticipate our customers' needs so that we can continue to provide them with superior solutions."

USG says that its LSS programmes have enabled it to optimise production and pricing, cut transportation costs and reduce excess inventory, leading to more than US$250m in operational savings and significantly improving team productivity. USG Mexico meanwhile invested in local distribution centres to increase its product range in the region.

Mexico: PPG has completed its sales of its Plaka plasterboard and cement-board business to Knauf. No financial value for the deal has been disclosed. PPG originally purchased its Plaka business in 2014 when it acquired Consorcio. The company produces wallboard, plasterboard and cement board primarily for the Mexican market.

Mexico: PPG has agreed to sell its Plaka gypsum wallboard and cement board business to Knauf. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2017, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. No financial details have been released.

PPG acquired the Plaka business in 2014 as part of its acquisition of Comex. Plaka, with sales of around US$30m in 2015, produces wallboard, plasterboard and cement board primarily for the Mexican construction market. The business employs about 200 people and operates a plant in Querétaro.

US: Cemex USA, the US subsidiary of the Mexican building materials company Cemex, has signed an agreement for the sale of its gypsum wallboard business based in Florida to US LBM. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The proceeds obtained from this transaction, which Cemex said will not be for a material amount, will be used mainly by Cemex USA's affiliates for debt reduction and for general corporate purposes. Cemex said that the closing of this divestment is subject to the satisfaction of standard conditions for this type of transaction.

The company currently expects to finalise this transaction at any time prior to the end of 2015.